Canada's Moore-Towers and Marinaro take silver at ISU Four Continents

February 09, 2019 - 11:22 PM

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Canada's Kirsten Moore-Towers and Michael Marinaro were 0.06 points short of gold on Saturday in pairs as they earned Canada's first medal at the 2019 ISU Four Continents figure skating event.

Olympic silver medallists Wenjing Sui and Cong Han of China squeaked by the Canadians for the victory with 211.11 points. Moore-Towers and Marinaro, first after the short program Friday, earned 211.05 for silver. Cheng Peng and Yang Jin of China were third at 205.42.

"It's bittersweet," said Moore-Towers from St. Catharines, Ont. "We were so close to first place but we're proud of the performance we put out and we know the areas we need to improve."

"We've definitely come a long way since November," added Marinaro, from Sarnia, Ont. "There was a big improvement in points but it's too bad we let a couple get away from us. Lesson for the future that we need every point we can get."

Evelyn Walsh of London, Ont., and Trennt Michaud of Trenton, Ont., were seventh and Camille Ruest of Rimouski, Que., and Andrew Wolfe of Calgary placed eighth.

In men's competition, Olympic silver medallist Shoma Uno of Japan took the gold with 289.12, Boyang Jin of China was second at 273.51 and Vincent Zhou of the U.S. third at 272.22

Keegan Messing of Sherwood Park, Alta., followed in fourth with a career international best 267.61. He was fifth after the short program and produced the third best free skate on Saturday.

His skate included two triple Axels and two quad toes both with one in combination.

"I'm pretty excited," said Messing. "It's rewarding for me because this is what I've been fighting for every day and to put down two clean programs this week is very satisfying."

Canadian champion Nam Nguyen of Toronto was 10th and Nicolas Nadeau of Boisbriand, Que., was 11th.

Competition ends Sunday with the free dance. Canadian couples Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje of Waterloo, Ont., and Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier of Toronto stand third and fourth after Friday's rhythm dance.